Southern Colonies

England's Southern Colonies in North America were established during the 17th and 18th centuries and consisted of Virginia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Maryland and Georgia. Their historical names were: the Colony and Dominion of Virginia, the Province of Carolina, and the Province of Georgia.. The hope of finding gold, gaining fame and virgin lands with plentiful natural resources drew English colonists to the Southern Colonies. Their economy was driven by plantations, initially worked by indentured servants, a labor force which was largely replaced in the early 18th century by slaves brought forcibly from Africa; except in Georgia, where most plantations were worked by debtors. Colonial South Carolina's economy relied largely on the Indian slave trade and deerskin harvested using slave labor. Cash crops included sugar cane, cotton, tobacco, indigo and rice.

The colonial government, subject to the Crown and Royal governors, was dominated by planters and other landowners. People worked in plantations and the Southern Colonies had the most slaves of all the colonies. The former Southern Colonies are home to the United States's District of Columbia, the seat of the Federal government. The Southern Colonies were more ethnically mixed than the Southern and New England Colonies.

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